Denis Leary (person)

A former 'comedian', now actor, whose act was based on being vaguely un-PC about the subjects of smoking, drinking, eating meat etc.

In fact large portions of his No Cure For Cancer album/video/book are almost word-for-word rip-offs of material by Bill Hicks, except that Leary has none of Hicks' sense of timing, little connection with the audience, no on-stage persona other than anger, and, crucially, cuts out anything remotely 'intellectual' from Hicks' material.

So while Hicks seemed to consider himself as much a poet and philosopher as a comedian, Leary removes the material about the nature of god, about politics, about freedom, about the ruling powers, about everything in fact that made Hicks great, and leaves in the jokes about smoking and the dick jokes, and other network-friendly material....

(For an example of how much Leary ripped off Hicks, compare their routines on Jim Fixx)

It has been said by many that the only reason Leary, rather than Hicks, became a star, is that there's No Cure For Cancer...